No, this is not about horticulture. In my last post I wrote about the importance of blooming where you’re planted. Today I hope to expand upon that theme a bit. The Author wrote: Yet it is not our part to…

Quoth The Philosopher: A well-educated man will expect exactness in every class of subjects, according as the nature of the thing admits. (Nicomachean Ethics) In short: the subject matter determines the degree of certitude we may have about our conclusions…

My first elementary lesson of duty is that of resignation to the laws of my nature, whatever they are; my first disobedience is to be impatient at what I am, and to indulge an ambitious aspiration after what I cannot…

Many Internet conversations turn out fine: one fellow convinces another, and everybody’s happy. Other conversations turn into off-road mudfests. Tires spin, mud spatters, and no one is convinced of anything. When the moment arrives that you realize you’re getting nowhere…

The essential quality of good listening is humility, which reflects the fact that God’s voice speaks to us even through the least and most inarticulate of His children. [Anonymous] Mr. Know-It-All doesn’t care about what people are trying to tell…

It is difficult to be aware of whether one knows or not. [Aristotle, Posterior Analytics I.9 (around 76a26)] Examples are hardly necessary. And yet we all tend to be tremendously confident about the accuracy of our opinions, and tremendously reluctant…

Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. [The Imitation of Christ, I.2] Great knowledge and education are fine things, but cannot be compared…

Last year I wrote a brief article about intellectual modesty, and my point was that truths of faith are not necessarily subject to comprehension by human reason. Our intellectual powers cannot rise above nature to the supernatural. Here is a…